Q&A: Mike Hinkley

Last weekend, Green Flash Brewing Company turned open the doors of its new East Coast brewery and tasting room in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The project took more than three years to get to the point where it was ready for sharing with the public, but now that 58,000-square-foot center of fermentation is producing and dispensing beer. We reached out to founder and owner Mike Hinkley to see how things went and how Green Flash’s home-away-from-home compares to America’s Finest City.

West Coaster: How were the weekend’s opening festivities?Mike Hinkley: Amazing! The building is beautiful and the beer garden is essentially a City park attached to the brewery. Thousands and thousands of people showed up to welcome and support us at Treasure Chest Fest and the grand opening. Because it is the off-season for tourism there, it was all locals. It felt so good to finally get together with them and share the excitement.